Safety personnel such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, medical personnel, military personnel, and security personnel are frequently involved in situations where they must leave their vehicle or where they interact directly with crowds and the public. The vehicles used by safety personnel are generally equipped with audible and visual alarms, safety devices and tracking devices. Once an individual has left their vehicle, however, they may be unable to readily access these features.
Construction personnel and workers in the transportation or power industries frequently encounter similar safety issues when operating in their day-to-day jobs. Construction personnel, such as those operating on large job sites or on transportation projects, for example, work outdoors in areas with high vehicle traffic or amongst large pieces of motorized equipment. Airport personnel, crossing guards, and the employees of highway crews and tow companies perform their jobs on foot in high-traffic areas and often in low-light or nighttime situations.
To improve visibility when working in low light or nighttime conditions away from their vehicles, construction and safety personnel often wear clothing or other accessories made with florescent or reflective fabric and carry flashlights. Wearing such reflective clothing may prove a hindrance to law enforcement or military personal in covert situations. Also, these devices provide limited or no added visability during daylight hours in highly populated areas or in crowd control situations. These devices also do not permit the user to be identified or located from a distance. Further, in the case of flashlight-type devices, the device may serve to hinder the user in an emergency situation and slow the user in performing work-related tasks, since the device occupies one of the user's hands when in use.
In such situations, it would be desirable for safety personnel to have a multi-functional device that can be carried on his or her person, provide a hands free source of light, and which affords the user improved visability when outside his or her vehicle in populated or high traffic areas, regardless of the time of day or level of ambient light. It would also be desirable for such a device to provide enhanced visibility of the user in multiple directions.